BEATING HIS DEMONS

THE MAN BEHIND THE CHANNEL 4 DOCUMENTARY THE STRANGER ON THE BRIDGE, JONNY BENJAMIN IS NOW USING HIS GLOBAL PLATFORM TO REACH OUT TO OTHERS STRUGGLING WITH THEIR SEXUALITY AND CAMPAIGNING FOR GREATER AWARENESS ON MENTAL HEALTH ILLNESSES.

Words: Christian Guiltenane

JONNY BENJAMIN

The mental health campaigner whose journey changed the world.

In January 2014, 26-year-old Jonny Benjamin made a public appeal to help find the man who stopped him from throwing himself off Waterloo Bridge six years before. Because of the length of time that had passed and because Jonny, in his schizophrenic and suicidal state, had been whisked away to hospital before he had a chance to speak to the passing Samaritan, he was only able to refer to the lifesaver as ‘Mike’ and the Find Mike campaign was launched.

The results were nothing short of astonishing. After appearing on TV and radio shows around the world, #FindMike started trending globally and Jonny — who had launched the campaign with the Rethink Mental Illness charity — became the new poster boy for mental health.

“While I had always wondered who this man was,” Jonny tells us a year on, “the main intention for the Find Mike campaign was to raise awareness of male suicide. Finding Mike himself would be an added bonus, so you can imagine my surprise when Neil [Laybourn] came forward so quickly. I was so overwhelmed. I just went up and gave him a hug. There were so many different emotions, I couldn’t grasp them all at first. But we sat down and he began to talk and I could see his mannerisms and hear his voice. Out of nowhere, I suddenly visualised him persuading me not to jump.”